I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord show us the Father and it sufficeth for us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me ? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
Jesus is explicit here in chapter 14 of John’s Gospel that he is indeed God. He is explicit that God is Father and that yet God is the Son too. He claims that God is at work in him and through him. That God acts and speaks in Him.
That is something each of us must decide for ourselves to believe or not believe.
It is between God and you.
But if Jesus is indeed who he claims to be, then he makes it very clear that he is exclusive.
God can only be approached via Jesus.
It is Jesus who reveals the Father, and it is Jesus who is the sole mediator – in stark contrast to the assertion of Roman Catholicism that Mary his mother also has a mediatorial role.
If we are to approach God, we must come through Jesus Christ.
That is the claim of the founder of Christianity, and that is the required doctrine and belief of those who say they are Christians.
As such Christianity excludes all other ways to come to God. It claims that God is who Jesus says that he is, and none other.
It therefore means that all other religions are in error.
Now, that is a judgement every person must make for themselves. That is what Jesus says, and so it depends on whether you accept what he says.
No-one can make that decision for you !
Nor should they try to !
But if you are open to accept what he says, it is quite radical. He is
- the way
- the truth
- the life
And that is either true or false. No in between.
As has often been said on this subject, there can only be 3 possibilities about a person claiming such things: he is either
- insane
- manipulative
- or telling the truth
If you decide that he is not insane, and not an impostor, then what he claims gives us amazing hope and prospects, both in this life and that to come.
In him and in his teaching [words] there is spiritual life. Eternal life. A life which transcends this life. As he said in the 6th chapter of Johns Gospel earlier, verse 63:
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.
And the way we find out whether it is true or not is to accept the teaching and to live by it.
As Jesus goes on to say later in this discourse recorded in chapter 14,
If a man [a person] love me he will keep [ie obey] my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.
God is real to those who obey Him !
Christianity 